just to be clear, it means that if u have rated your files using winamps default value (which u state above), then the last mp3tag to show the raw data for that is 2.48b

just fyi, the new winamp thankfully allows the user to denote any email or txt string they like.

however, it will be earlier versions of mp3tag than 2.48b to get POPM to show the raw data if u rated files with MM or WMP. I don't know which earlier versions, but u might be able to deduce it from the version history.

the proposed solution is to allow both columns to work simultaneously. so if a file had:

rating@winamp.com|196|0

...in its POPM frame, then it would continue to show "4" in a RATING WINAMP column, but it would simultaneously show "rating@winamp.com|196|0" in a %popularimeter% column, instead of nothing, which it currently shows.

the main point is that I want to see the raw data in the one column, and currently I can't if it has one of those "recognized" txt ID strings.

"popularimeter" is missing from your listing to create columns btw. it used to be there, altho I can't recall if it was in the "information fields" or "extended fields" list.

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you should also be aware of the following things:

just because the text id might seem to suggest a given program wrote the rating, does not mean a DIFFERENT program didn't write a different rating later. currently, MM will write 252 for 5 stars, but winamp will write 255. if a winamp user re-rates the file, OR gives it a different rating, the MM txt string REMAINS in place, but the value changes. this then completely breaks what you are trying to do in the "app" rating columns. see post 16.

Also, I have gotten the devs at MM to agree to use "255" instead of 252 and "1" instead of 23 going forward, but that change has yet to be released. in addition, winamp will in its next release, allow the user to specify their own email addy, as opposed to the default above, (also my request).

the easiest fix is to just allow the popularimeter column to always work and show the raw data no matter what. no reason it can't work simultaneously with the other 'string specific' columns like RATING MM and so on.

the proposed solution is to allow both columns to work simultaneously. so if a file had:

rating@winamp.com|196|0

...in its POPM frame, then it would continue to show "4" in a RATING WINAMP column, but it would simultaneously show "rating@winamp.com|196|0" in a %popularimeter% column, instead of nothing, which it currently shows.

the main point is that I want to see the raw data in the one column, and currently I can't if it has one of those "recognized" txt ID strings.

"popularimeter" is missing from your listing to create columns btw. it used to be there, altho I can't recall if it was in the "information fields" or "extended fields" list.

I think that if you have 2 columns, one with the value and field POPULARIMETER and (an empty) one with RATING WINAMP and you have already filled POPULARIMETER and then enter data in the column RATING WINAMP then you get 2 POPM fields as these 2 columns do not know anything about each other. There is (yet) no synchronization mechanism.

The main issue why this has not been addressed in the proposed way, i.e., having bothPOPULARIMETER with the raw data in Email|Rating|Playcounter and the different app-specific RATING MM, RATING WMP, ...) fields is the following:

Displaying both fields, where in fact one of them is a derived field, i.e., would really break Mp3tag's way of showing what's in the file. You'd end up with a POPULARIMETER field (showing what's inside the tag) and a RATING MM field, which is then only a view on the very same data. Mp3tag is designed to only show one field per real tag data (that's either raw POPULARIMETER or a app-specific rating). Changing that would require per-field level sync mechanisms, where changing one field would also automagically change another — this is a direction I don't want to go into.

In fact, @MrSinatra I was thinking of the way Mp3tag handles rating lately and read some of your posts here and on the Winamp and MediaMonkey forums. My initial goal with adding the app-specific rating fields was to ease the manipulation of them and to provide means to display something star-alike without having to use endless scripting that splits up the POPULARIMETER values. Those fields were added when MediaMonkey used completely different values than the other apps (you've analyzed this thoroughly).

I now think that adding those app-specific was a mistake — which is unfortunately not so easy to revert. My dream-solution is to remove the different app-specific RATING MM, RATING WMP, ... fields and to have Mp3tag show the raw data (POPULARIMETER, RATING, RATE, ...). To ease displaying this data, instead of having dedicated fields I can imagine having a scripting function, e.g., $rating(%field%) that converts the raw value in a star-like representation.